Republic Bank’s 3-year strategic plan yield results
The Managing Director of Republic Bank Ghana PLC, Benjamin Dzoboku, has said the bank’s three-year strategic plan has yielded positive results as captured in its performance report for the 2023 financial year.
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Accordingly, the bank, he said posted a total comprehensive income of GH¢145.03 million for the year, representing an increase of GH¢167.73 million from the loss of GH¢22.69 million registered in 2022 on the back of the Domestic Debt Exchange Program (DDEP) by the government.
“It is worth noting that we were not only profitable within the period, but our commitment to excellence, underpinned by our core values, garnered laurels from recognised prestigious and credible institutions because of the testaments from our customers.
These include: Being rated as a 5-star Bank in Service Quality for Consumer Banking; Being rated 5-star in Customer Satisfaction for Consumer Banking; Earning a total score of 99.5 per cent in the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana, Customer Satisfaction Index 2022 (CIMG-CSI2022); and being adjudged the Best in Mortgage Finance by the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA).
Addressing shareholders, he said despite the financial fallouts post-DDEP and challenging global and domestic economic environments, the group closed the year 2023 with a strong financial performance by recording a total comprehensive income of GH¢145.03 million.
This represents a significant increase of 739 per cent over the loss of GH¢22.70 million posted in 2022. This positive outcome is attributed to a 41.90 per cent improvement in net interest income and a 72.64 per cent decline in impairment losses on financial assets.
In 2022, the bank experienced a net impairment loss of GH¢241.44 million, primarily due to participation in the DDEP.
However, he noted that through effective loan recovery and robust risk management, the bank successfully reduced its overall net impairment loss on financial assets to GH¢66.09 million by year-end 2023, albeit the recognition of GH¢42.89 million on investment securities, largely from the Cocoa bills debt exchange. Consequently, the NPL ratio reduced from 19.85 per cent in 2022 to 15.95 per cent in 2023.
Loans & advances
In response to inflationary concerns, Mr Dzoboku said the Bank of Ghana hiked its policy rate from 28 per cent to 30 per cent in 2023.
This spiralled up the Ghana Reference Rate (GRR) to a high of 32.16 per cent, thus significantly increasing borrowing costs.
“Despite this challenging environment, our bank impressively grew its net loans and advances portfolio by 24.0 per cent, from GH¢1.96 billion in 2022 to GH¢2.43 billion in 2023”.
Particularly, credit cards showed the most remarkable increase of 110.50 per cent, from GH¢7.4 million in 2022 to GH¢15.6 million, reflecting the bank's successful strategy of leveraging digital channels for growth.
Outlook
The bank’s Board Chair, David Addo-Ashong, said while acknowledging the challenges presented by the current economic climate, “I remain cautiously optimistic about 2024.
“Through the execution of our new medium-term strategy to become a financial lighthouse, we will prioritise showcasing the strength and resilience of our business model.”
He said the ambition would be fuelled by a customer-centric approach embedded in the bank’s digitisation plan, a culture that prioritised service excellence underpinned by operational efficiency, diligent risk management practices, and leveraging the expertise of “our talented team.”